How can I ATTRACT crows ?

toomuchglass(5)May 4, 2011

Yes -- you read right ! I want to feed and have crows in my yard ! I live in Wisconsin - in the city . I see some hovering around .. but I want to draw them in . I'm probably in the minority ... but I know they are so smart & I'd like to see them in action . Will they come to a raised tray full of stuff they love ? I'm thinking fat,suet,peanuts,maybe some canned dogfood -->stuff that looks like roadkill ~ LOL

Any ideas ? This is the first time I've been to this forum ........... thank you sooo much !

HA Rhizo!
If she follows your advice (which I guess was half in jest), Kathy should attract every other kind of scavenging critter too.
Rats are particularly amusing to listen to in the walls and on the roof in the wee hours of the night ....every night!
Min

Min, believe it or not, my comments were entirely based on my own personal observation of their usual behavior. They will tear open garbage bags and strew the contents all over the place; I used to watch them enter my neighbor's garage to steal rags, wrenches, a dog collar, etc. Another neighbor was feeding the crows at the same time as her dog...and the birds flew over to MY birdbath to dunk their little treats.

We have garbage bag bandits --- raccoons ! They make such a mess , we have to keep our garbage in till the day of collection . I guess it'll be a guessing game -- who shows up first at my feeding spot .

maybe you could put some goodies that the crows might like, up on a shed roof or porch roof and hope that the crows see them there. the crows should finish eating before the raccoons show up after dark.

i do understand why you want to watch them- they are very smart fascinating birds. there are some science dvds about crows and ravens that are interesting. good luck, min

Hey Kathy,
Maybe you could purchase and then tear up chunks of Big Mac Hamburgers around the yard? LOL. They do seem to hang around fast food joints trying to get scraps. :o) They really are smart birds, and I can see why someone would want to observe them. I did some research and learned that they love whole peanuts, cheese, hotdogs, macaroni and cheese, and sandwich meats.

In the winter/early spring I throw out some tidbits for the Crows along with the usual bird feed. I will scatter the food such as old corn chips, leftover dried cat food, old bread, etc. on the ground behind the bird feeding area. Even some old sandwich meat that is turning bad. Also some black oil sunflower seed (BOSS) for the other ground feeding birds and squirrels.

I enjoy watching the Crows fly down and strut around on the ground and the Blue Jays usually love these goodies too. Like Rhizo, I have observed the Crows take corn chips and dunk them in the bird bath. Also they like to sit on the rim of my compost bin and dig in that for snacks.

I usually greatly reduce the amount of bird feeding in the summer, when natural food sources and insects are abundant. Also, right now I am putting out hardly any food because there are Baltimore Oriole's nesting in the Pin Oak right above my bird feeding area. I watched the Baltimore Oriole pair chase these 4 huge Crows out of the yard the other day. This is of course, because Crows will raid other birds' nests for the eggs and nestlings.

I have a small plastic wading pool for my dog to play in when it's hot. I've left it out with 6" or so of water in it and I've seen crows using it like a bird bath a few times. They perch on the edge and then hop down in a bathe just like the little birds do in the traditional bird bath. It's pretty cool!

Not too long ago, I saw a PBS show "A Murder of Crows". They have amazing memories and intelligence. Chances are, if you are seeing them hanging about watching you, they already recognize you as someone that provides food. You may already attract crows.

In my experience, the crows are very wary of getting caught "stealing" the food you provide. Those that visit my yard won't tolerate any direct observation. As soon as they realize I'm watching - they leave.
DD

I live in Edmonton Alberta. Up here in the Canadian north we have LOTS of crows and even more magpies. My neighbours despise them but I feed them all year round just to watch their antics. They, as well as blue jays, whiskey jacks and mynas are all of the family Corvidae and are considered some of the most intellegent birds around. Each year my feather dusters make more and often kill each others hatchlings but such is nature. The squirrels steal small birds eggs and babies just as much. Long story shorter, I feed the big guys dry cat food (soak it in the winter) , tinned cat or dog food in the winter, and just about anything edible. They eat vegies, rice, cereal, bread,oats, alfalfa pellets, sunflower seeds,peanuts, fruit, any meat or fish and get turkey and cranberries at christmas. They will tell you really fast what they don't like. I have a heavy ceramic dish on my fence and lots of fresh water close by. The crows, magpies and bluejays come to eat as soon as they leave the nest. The magpies are very noisy, especially the fledglings, and the crows are a bit more shy here but will literally talk to me and call to me to feed them. They play with the dogs in the yard and often throw food to them while they watch them eat. Don't know if you get magpies in the south but they are real comics and beautiful birds. Have at least one nest of all three corvidaes every spring. I hope you enjoy these beautiful birds as much as I do!

Thank you for all your replies & stories - I loved hearing them ! In the last couple months - I've been cutting up scraps of fat & meat - and placing them in different spots around the yard. (Out of my dog's reach) I can't seem to get anything but Flies. I know there's crows around - I see one whizzing by now & then. Where there's one -- there's more. I got my DH involved in this now ... a crow feeder is the weirdest thing he's ever seen on his honey-do list. LOL Over the winter ,I want him to make a flat feeder/tray that can sit on top of our 6' high wooden fence. I want it to be made out of fine metal mesh for drainage incase it rains. It'll be shiny & easy for me to just throw scraps on top of it. Hopefully by next spring ,I'll havee a bunch of new buddies to entertain me !

kathy, you could make your feeder tray right now. get some hardware cloth at HD, use wire snips to cut in a couple of inches at the corners, bend the 4 sides up and nail it on top of the fence.
as you can tell, i am not one to wait for help if i can do something myself- i'm way too impatient. :)
min

I should just do it myself . I'm like you Min ... it has to be done yesterday ..LOL.. I do tons of stuff myself - I know my way around tools ! The reason I didn't start it yet -- I didn't know if it was too late in the year .
Do crows migrate ? Well --- I'm sure I'll attract SOMETHING if I make the feeder !! I'm off to get the Hardware cloth tomorrow !!! ;)

The same people that have the CROW BE GONE website also have a CD that will attract crows by the hundreds. The CD is called crow come here and it works great if you want to surround yourself with lots and lots of crows.

Do you have birdfeeders? I love the crows, I find them to be fascinating! So intelligent with such a sophisticated society! They have such a wide vocabulary, and such structure in their groups. I love them. And I love that they act as sentinels watching for hawks or danger. We just put leftovers out for them, bread, chips, spaghetti.....but we live in a very rural area and do not have rodent problems. We have skunks and raccoons that come around to eat leftovers in the evening and because the feeding station is away from our house we don't worry about it. I'm sure this might be a problem in a suburban area!

Don't use that site, "Crow come Here." They use a distress call to bring the crows. It's horrid.

Here in the mountains, there are ravens. They will come to eat old corn left for them in the garden, but no closer. (There's a tree nearby for the guard.) Same with the crows. They know about guns. They get a little more relaxed when the jays are around. I love them all!

I've tried tying meat to twine and pulling it into a tree --nothing. But one snowy day last winter, a raven actually came to my front yard platform birdfeeder. That was awesome! I had a pic, but of course can't find it.

Quite a few years ago, the city that I live in (about 18,000 people), decided that crows were a menace and disease carrier (they carry west nile disease) so they went about eradicating them from the city yards. We don't see them much in the city anymore but they are out in the rural areas.

I have to disagree with (Posted by smkymtn1drer)
The Crow come Here Cd is amazing. I think the poster above was thinking of another CD with a similar name. The link that he is sending everyone to (Hunters disgusted by CD) where they are talking about another CD with multiple calls. Mr. smkymtn1drer the Crow come Here Cd has only one call and it's intended to attract crows in mass quantities. I understand how a bird lover wouldn't like that but as a hunter I feel the Crow come Here CD is an exceptional cd with amazing results. Wish I could send you pictures of the crow kills we've had with it. Yet for a bird lover I don't think you would like that. For now you keep hanging your meat and I will keep shooting the winged rats.

(smkymtn1drer above) A little research would have told you that your link (Hunters disgusted by CD) are talking about (JS Crow come Here) "NOT" (Crow come Here by CBG Media). It's misinformation you've given. Like they say don't believe everything you read on the internet. This is not the place to bad mouth a business you know nothing about. Now back to my progressive loader to get ready for tomorrows eradication of crows. I really have to say it's some fun shooting and they never get use to the CD. We take a 20 minute break, pick up birds, reload or change locations and let the fun start again.

I had one two summers ago visit on a regular basis when I had my bird feeder and growing multiple veggies in the garden. I also had a lot of blue jays at the time too. Last summer I only grew tomatoes and the no-mess seed blend so not a lot of jays or crows, but they are one of my favorites, especially the blue jays. They are hilarious at the bird feeder. I don't understand shooting the crows, they do a service with the road kill around here and they are prettier than the buzzards. The only ones I can stand to have a few less of are the raccoons and the tree-rats/squirrels.

Oh man I'm glad you're not my neighbor, lol. I hate crows. I had a bunch MURDER (lol, play on words) a large nest of garter snakes-they ate the whole lot, at least 100 of them. Noisy, messy, nasty things. I'll even take the 100's of starlings I have to deal with now than a few crows!

Anyway...they ARE smart. They LOVE shiny objects (hence the previous post about theft of wrenches and a dog coller which I bet had a tag on it). I'd bet hanging a bunch of shiny things (old spoons maybe?) would help get their attention. Wet cat food, small goldfish are things they like to eat that I know of. They wash their food, or at least dunk it in water, so you'll need water nearby-and lots of it.

so glad you put this on ive been thinking the same got loads of crows where i live love them and as for eclecticcottage why even comment if you hate them hate sad people that like to have there little digs as they have nothing better to do look for a post what you like

You are all making it difficult. They don't just eat garbage. I've seen crows eating at my parent's birdfeeder. Crows like corn. Put out a large bird feeder, and make sure it is full of corn and sunflower seeds. Make sure it is big enough to hold their weight. Maybe use a squirrel feeder. Corn cobs hung from things would also work.

Crows also like to nest in trees in the middle of fields. They like a high place with a clear field of view in all directions.

You can attract crows by taking away any thing in your yard that might scare them. Throwing down cracked corn is also something they will be attracted to. Throw it down someplace that is open. Keep some water in small shallow open containers for the crows to drink from.

Since we've had crows around for years I offer this one piece of advice:
Whatever you feed them, do it at the same time each day. Morning is best; second best is before they have to head home for the night. They'll keep the schedule better than you in no time - and leave nothing behind for other critters.